Overview

It's no secret that streaming video games on the internet is immensely popular now due to the rise of services dedicated to game streaming like Twitch and Mixer. A combination of commodity capture cards and software capture solutions have made it easier than ever to start streaming.

As internet speeds increase (at least in some parts of the world) combined with newly available capture hardware, it's only a matter of time before we start to see more of a push towards 4K streaming in the coming years.

However, until now, one of the biggest emerging trends in both console and PC gaming, HDR, has been ignored by capture gear.

Today, we're taking a look at two 4K HDR products from Avermedia, the Live Gamer 4K, and Live Gamers Ultra.

Overview

While we tend to focus on PC Gaming-oriented displays here at PC Perspective, they don't necessarily represent the highest-end of the PC monitor market. Often professionals working in photography and videography areas have stricter requirements for the displays they use.

Just imagine, if you are mastering video in wide gamut color spaces like DCI-P3 for HDR playback, you need to be assured that the source image on your PC is being accurately represented on your display. While the highest-end production use reference displays that can cost upwards of $20,000, there's a growing market for more modestly priced displays for prosumers that can also provide reasonable assurance of color accuracy.

This is the type of consumer that ASUS targets with their "ProArt" lineup. Today, we are taking a look at the ASUS ProArt PA32UC, a factory-calibrated 32" 3840x2160 display capable of 99.5% AdobeRGB coverage.

In addition to what looks like plenty of stock in our local store, these monitors are also available for the same price from the Microcenter Web Store and able to be shipped anywhere in the US. This is unusual as generally, Microcenter sale prices, like their deep discounts on CPUs, aren't available through their online store.

Obviously, retailers are at their own discretion to discount products, so don't take this as guidance from NVIDIA, Acer, or ASUS as Microcenter seems to be the only retailer offering this price. Still, a 10% price discount on premium products like these, shortly after launch isn't exactly a good sign for sales numbers.

Even at $1,800, we would still say that these monitors are too expensive to recommend, but a 10% discount is nice on what we consider to be the highest quality PC gaming monitor on the market.

BenQ EW3270U Review

The HDR craze continues to heat up in the PC display market, and while some manufacturers are aiming at the high end of performance and price, BenQ is targeting a much more attainable price point with the recent launch of the EW3270U, a 32-inch 4K HDR display.

The EW3270U touts support for HDR, FreeSync, and both DCI-P3 (95 percent coverage) and sRGB (100 percent) but its relatively low price of $699 means that buyers can expect some compromises. We tested the EW3270U to find out if its performance and limitations were worth the price, and discovered a display with very good color accuracy that may be just what mid-range 4K buyers are looking for.

A long time coming

To say that the ASUS ROG Swift PG27UQ has been a long time coming is a bit of an understatement. In the computer hardware world where we are generally lucky to know about a product for 6-months, the PG27UQ is a product that has been around in some form or another for at least 18 months.

Originally demonstrated at CES 2017, the ASUS ROG Swift PG27UQ debuted alongside the Acer Predator X27 as the world's first G-SYNC displays supporting HDR. With promised brightness levels of 1000 nits, G-SYNC HDR was a surprising and aggressive announcement considering that HDR was just starting to pick up steam on TVs, and was unheard of for PC monitors. On top of the HDR support, these monitors were the first announced displays sporting a 144Hz refresh rate at 4K, due to their DisplayPort 1.4 connections.

However, delays lead to the PG27UQ being displayed yet again at CES this year, with a promised release date of Q1 2018. Even more slippages in release lead us to today, where the ASUS PG27UQ is available for pre-order for a staggering $2,000 and set to ship at some point this month.

In some ways, the launch of the PG27UQ very much mirrors the launch of the original G-SYNC display, the ROG Swift PG278Q. Both displays represented the launch of an oft waited technology, in a 27" form factor, and were seen as extremely expensive at their time of release.

Finally, we have our hands on a production model of the ASUS PG27UQ, the first monitor to support G-SYNC HDR, as well as 144Hz refresh rate at 4K. Can a PC monitor really be worth a $2,000 price tag?

There is a lot to parse in Guru 3D's review of the Samsung C32HG70 a 32", 1440p, 144Hz curved VA panel as they delve into details about HDR and FreeSync as well as discussing the merits of 4k versus 2560x1440 or 3440x1440. If you are already familiar with those topics you can jump into the meat of their review of this impressive panel. The display offers great SDR performance but truly shines when you enable HDR and install the latest firmware updates, after which you can test your experience in Ultimate FreeSync which offers a dynamic range of 48-144Hz or in Standard which limits the range to 120-144Hz to prevent tearing which might occur in some setups. There is a lot to go through in this review, so you might as well get started.

"This Quantum Dot 2560x1440 monitor can do 144Hz combined with FreeSync and FreeSync2. That eliminates stutter and tearing while gaming in HDR. The Samsung C32HG70 is fitted with a VA panel offering proper image quality, connectivity, and features."

We're one step closer to the official launch of G-SYNC HDR displays with the official announcement of a release window and pricing from ASUS for their PG27UQ 27" G-SYNC HDR Display. While the Acer Predator X27 was put up for pre-order last week and is set to ship on June 1st, this is the first indication of release details we have for the ASUS PG27UQ.

ASUS is touting the PG27UQ as the first "gaming monitor" to achieve VESA's DisplayHDR 1000 certification. While we've seen the announcement of another DisplayHDR 1000 monitor, the Phillips Momentum, it comes in at a TV-sized 43 inches.

DisplayHDR 1000 certification is achieved through the utilization of a 384-zone 1000cd/m2 peak brightness backlight as well as a quantum dot layer which allows the IPS panel to support 97% DCI-P3 and 99% AdobeRGB color gamut.

The PG27UQ also features ambient lighting controlled by their the ASUS Aura Sync software. A built-in ROG Light Signal will allow users to cast the ROG logo on the wall behind their monitor if they so choose.

The ASUS PG27UQ will be available in North America for a price of $1,999.99 starting in late June 2018.

Super Ultrawide

Ultrawide monitors have become an enormous trend in PC gaming over the last 3-4 years. In late 2014 when LG launched the first PC monitors with a 21:9 aspect ratio, I indeed was a skeptic. To me, it seemed like such a radical new aspect ratio would be wrought with game incompatibility, and wouldn't offer much of an advantage over two monitor setups for productivity.

And in the beginning, this was mostly the case. In 2014, games didn't even enable the option for 21:9 aspect ratio resolutions, and those that did, generally resulted in distorted image and FOV settings.

However, gamers wanted these ultrawide aspect ratio displays, and the game support soon followed. Now, ultrawide monitors are a staple of every monitor manufacturer's product lineup.

What we are looking at today though, is the most intense of all of the ultrawide monitors, the 49" Samsung CHG90. And it just so happens to be one of the first AMD FreeSync 2 displays.

Specifications

Still in the ultrawide category, the CHG90 moves away from the more traditional 21:9 ultrawide aspect ratio to a wider and squatter 32:9. This aspect ratio allows Samsung to maximize the width of the CHG90 while keeping the display short enough not to engulf your entire wall.

Essentially, you can look at this display as two 27" monitors sitting side-by-side, without the pesky bezel in the middle. Similarly, the resolution of the CHG90 matches the effective resolution of two 1080p monitors sitting next to each other, with a total resolution of 3840x1080.

To achieve such a big display size in a still relatively usable form factor, the CHG90 display features a 1800R curvature. This figure refers to the measurement of the resulting radius that the display would make if it continued to make a full circle. For example, a 3000R display would have less of a curve than a 1800R display.

The curve on the CHG90 isn't quite like any other display we've seen, however. Due to the immense size of the display, the entire panel isn't curved. The curve stops about 6 inches from the edge of either side of the screen.

While Philips has been a bit quiet in the LCD space since they divested from LG.Philips, they are still in the market through their partner, EPI. Today’s news is that this duo has created the first monitor to be certified as compliant with VESA’s DisplayHDR 1000 standard: the Philips Momentum 43-inch (436M6VBPAB).

The number in front of DisplayHDR comes from the brightness rating (measured in candela per square meter) that the specification demands for HDR content.

As for the rest of the monitor’s details? 4K, check. HDR, of course. 43-inch, could be very good for that resolution. Quantum dot, yup. $999.99 USD, very interesting price. It doesn’t list whether it is compatible with any variable refresh technology, though. G-Sync HDR is pretty much out of the question, but FreeSync would have completed this monitor’s checklist. It will still turn heads, but its omission will also raise a few questions.